Arjun will be the one to beat in a strong Masters field
World No. 5 Arjun Erigaisi headlines a strong 10-player Masters field and will be the one to beat. Anish Giri is the second highest rated player in the section and the 10th-ranked Dutchman is expected to provide a strong challenge for the ₹25 lakh top prize.
The experienced Vidit Gujrathi, Karthikeyan Murali, Nihal Sarin and Pranav Venkatesh are the other Indians in the fray as the host players are expected to mount a strong challenge for the title.
The world No. 21 Vincent Keymer from Germany will look to make an impression and take a huge step towards qualification for the Candidates tournament while the American duo of Awonder Liang and Ray Robson and Giri's compatriot Jorden Van Foreest, all fine players in their own right, will be hoping to fight it out for top honours.
Keymer had remarked on Monday that with many young and ambitious players in the fray, he expected a lot of closely fought games.
Arjun, who missed out on making it to the Candidates event in 2024, would be keen to strike gold here and earn crucial FIDE circuit points.
Karthikeyan, who was promoted to the Masters category thanks to Vladimir Fedoseev's withdrawal, will fancy a few upsets.
In the Challengers event, IM G.B. Harshavardhan got a late call-up after Karthikeyan was moved to the Masters and would be testing out his wits against established names such as Pa. Iniyan, Abhimanyu Puranik, D. Harika and R. Vaishali. The Challengers' winner will book a spot in the Masters event next year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
‘I was never the villain, I was made into one': Oval pitch curator who irked Gautam Gambhir after epic India vs England encounter
India came back from a seemingly hopeless situation to win the Oval Test and draw the five-match series against England 2-2. It marked the end of a series that was filled with incidents. While most of it happened on the field, India head coach Gautam Gambhir's argument with Oval pitch curator Lee Fortis before the start of the fifth Test was easily the most prominent off-field flare-up over the course of the series. Gambhir firing angry words at Fortis is what went viral first and the Indian head coach received some criticism for his choice of words to describe the latter's profession. However, details later emerged about what it is that irked Gambhir so much and that led to Fortis being accused of favouring England at best and having a colonial mindset towards the Indians at worst. The track that Fortis and his ground staff prepared, and maintained admirably in a Test that was frequently interrupted by rain, coughed up a thriller, though, with India winning it by just six runs – their lowest margin of victory by runs in Test cricket. 'Well, I was never the villain, I was made into one,' Fortis is quoted as saying by PTI. 'Hope you guys enjoyed the show and the atmosphere was like the IPL. It was a great game.' Indian head coaches Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak were asked by Fortis, through a messenger, to stay 2.5 metres away from the playing surface. He also shouted at the Indian support staff to not take a 'cooler' to the ground. Batting coach Kotak, who was close to the action and played the pacifier when an animated Gambhir was talking to Fortis, gave details about the net session altercation. 'When we went to see the pitch, we were asked by someone to keep a 2.5-metre distance. This was surprising. The Test would be in a few days and we were wearing joggers. So it felt a bit odd. We all have been on the ground enough, we have played so much cricket. Curators are possessive about the ground and the square but they need to understand that they are speaking to highly skilled and intelligent people.' Kotak said.
India Today
4 hours ago
- India Today
Indian bowlers with best strike rate in away Test series
Indian bowlers with best strike rate in away Test series Mohammed Siraj finished as the leading wicket-taker in the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, playing a pivotal role for India across all five Tests Siraj bowled 185.3 overs in the series and picked up 23 wickets at an average of 32.43, including two five-wicket hauls takes a look at the Indians with the best bowling strike rates in away Test series 1. MOHAMMED SIRAJ Mohammed Siraj now holds the record for the best bowling strike rate by an Indian in an away Test series 2. JASPRIT BUMRAH Jasprit Bumrah picked up 23 wickets during the 2021–22 tour of England at a bowling strike rate of 48.7 3. ERAPALLI PRASANNA Erapalli Prasanna, the legendary off-spinner, claimed 24 wickets during India's 1967 tour of New Zealand at a bowling strike rate of 49.4 4. KAPIL DEV Kapil Dev follows Prasanna on this list, having recorded a bowling strike rate of 51.3 during the 1982–83 Test series against Pakistan
Hindustan Times
6 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
How India became Test titans on foreign pitches
In India's chequered 93-year catalogue of appearances in Test cricket, they have won 183 matches, lost 186, drawn 224 and tied one. There have been since their first victory at home in 1952 — against England — and the maiden one abroad in 1968 in New Zealand, many memorable moments. But other than the tie with Australia in 1986, no match has exhibited such animated suspense until the last ball and as gripping a drama as at The Oval in London on Monday. There have, unsurprisingly, been several instances of India recovering from distress to exhilaratingly overcome the opposition. Episodes of this nature abroad in unfamiliar playing conditions have generally been classified as more creditable. (AFP) The back-to-back series triumphs in the West Indies and England in 1971 were an indisputable turning point for Indian cricket. At Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Dilip Sardesai threw down the gauntlet with a defiant 112. Spinners S Venkataraghan, Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Bedi then shared the spoils to clear the deck for a seven-wicket eclipse of Garry Sobers' side. Five months later, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar's whippy and deceptive wrist spin destroyed England in the second England innings at The Oval to ensure India coasted to a four-wicket win. India's most convincing showing ever in an away series, though, was the 2-0 margin in England in 1986. The Indian swing merchants, with Chetan Sharma pre-eminent, proved to be a handful for the Englishmen, not to mention Maninder Singh's left-arm spin and Dilip Vengsarkar's immaculate centuries at Lord's in London and Headingley in Leeds. It could have been a 3-0 brown-wash, but for rain saving England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The 2-1 ascendancy in Pakistan in 2004, reflecting subduing of the hosts by an innings at Multan and Rawalpindi, is notable. Virender Sehwag's swashbuckling triple century, Rahul Dravid's 270, spinner Anil Kumble and pacers Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji caught the eye. Then, there were the consecutive conquests in Australia — 2-1 each time — in 2018-19 and 2020-21. On the second occasion, India reversed fortunes after being abysmally dismissed for 36 in the opening test at Adelaide. In the final meeting at The Gabba in Brisbane, India, despite being reduced to a makeshift bowling attack, rose to the task, before the irrepressible batsman Rishabh Pant steered the visitors to shore. There have, unsurprisingly, been several instances of India recovering from distress to exhilaratingly overcome the opposition. While such sagas have also occurred at home, episodes of this nature abroad in unfamiliar playing conditions have generally been classified as more creditable. Significant Indian support at overseas venues these days, of course, renders the atmosphere less daunting than in the past, notwithstanding genuine cricket lovers in England and Australia, even in Pakistan, being, historically, appreciative of good performances by Indians. The crowd backing, though, does not eliminate the challenge of seaming or bouncing pitches, which have often been India's undoing. In 1976 at Port of Spain, India conceded a first innings deficit of 131 runs; but thereafter successfully chased a target of 402 in the fourth innings. In fact, India's score of 406 for four continues to be the third highest successful fourth innings total in test history. Sunil Gavaskar posted 102; thereafter Mohinder Amarnath (85) and Gundappa Viswanath (112) finished the job. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1981, India trailed by 182 in the first innings; but bowled out Australia for 83 in their second innings to streak home by 59 runs. On the final morning, with Australia resuming at 24 for three on a wicket unplayable for batsmen, it was unlikely they would reach even the modest required tally of 143 runs, especially once a hitherto injured Kapil Dev became available to deliver the coup de grâce — which he duly did with a bag of five for 28. In short, the foregoing illustrates situations where a trend and, therefore, the possible climax became evident after a certain juncture. When India, on the third evening of the just concluded Test, set England an assignment of compiling 374 runs to breast the tape, there was no precedent of this being achieved at The Oval. The best ever winning fourth innings here was England's 263 for nine in 1902. Lower order collapses had been a feature of this summer's engaging five-test encounter, epitomising the glorious uncertainties of cricket. At 347 for six on the final morning, with England needing a paltry 27 runs to nail the Indian coffin, it appeared done and dusted. But the Englishmen mustered just 20 more to descend to their doom. In a captivating hour, India engineered a sensational coup d'état. The 2-2 series result arrests India's recent downward spiral as regards the shocking 0-3 surrender to New Zealand in India last autumn and the nose-dive Down Under in winter. It also secures Gautam Gambhir's slightly threatened career as Test match coach. Ashis Ray is a journalist and author of The Trial That Shook Britain. The views expressed are personal.
